Swan said officials lost control of the match and were calling too many penalties against the Eagles for most of the game.

Winnipeg author Don Marks said it's entirely possible one team was being treated differently.

Marks' book, They call Me Chief: Warriors on the Ice, looks at the experiences of First Nations athletes who have overcome obstacles to play in the NHL.

"I've found, in my experience, playing on an all-native team, where the referee may have [the] attitude, 'I have to watch these players a little extra careful,' because we have black uniforms, long hair, maybe a few missing teeth, from pucks not punches, and then the other players look at our team and they go, 'Oh, I better carry my stick a little high.'"

Marks said there's no excuse for violence against a referee, but hockey does need to overcome the stereotypes and culture clashes that can lead to problems.

"There's a culture clash that goes on here," he said. "It's based on stereotypes. We don't know each other well enough."

Marks said First Nations people have a role to play in changing those stereotypes.

"You've got to make remedies like aboriginal representation on a board of Hockey Manitoba," he said.

"You have to have league meetings, parents meetings, workshops, where native parents and white parents come out and get to know each other."